Whether you like it or not. Actually, as far as rainy seasons go this one has been quite mild, certainly less rain than I’ve experienced since the move. One difference this year has been a lack of tropical storms/typhoons passing through. In fact, I do believe today is the first time we’ve felt the full impact of being in the direct path of a storm. The difference is not so much the rainfall, we’ve had our rainy days, but rather the winds that accompany a tropical depression.
Speaking of electrical power, mine has gone out three times today so far. The first time was at 0300 when I was trying to get back to sleep after a pee call. I remember thinking “oh, shit. With this wind and rain, I’ll be lucky to see power again before noon.” I was actively contemplating which hotel would be a good place to escape to should the outage last longer than that. And then like magic, power was restored after only a 40-minute outage. It went out again around 5 a.m. while I was surfing the ‘net but this time it was only dark for about ten minutes. Just before I went out for the dog walk we lost electricity yet again. When I saw the downed tree above I figured I was screwed this time. I was pleasantly surprised to see the fan blades twirling when I got back home though.
I guess it says a lot about the reliability of utilities here when you talk in terms of only three outages. But I am duly impressed they’ve avoided the all-day blackouts I’ve experienced in the past. Coincidentally or not, the power company workers were here in Alta Vista yesterday trimming trees that might entangle the powerlines during a storm like the one we are currently experiencing.
Here’s the stormy morning view from my upstairs balcony:
Life goes on. And with life comes hunger. This morning I assuaged those pangs with these:
Yesterday was grocery shopping day and I was disappointed, but not surprised, that Royal STILL doesn’t have any frozen fruits.
Since I’ve decided to call Tuesday my day off from walking, I’m going to incorporate darts into my afternoon routine. That meant playing in the Alley Cats tourney yesterday.
Speaking of darts, I’ve started putting together a Facebook group for the singles league I hope to start here soon.
Since the rain appears to have voided my afternoon walk, I might just play in today’s tournament as well. Getting there should be interesting. An umbrella is pretty much useless when the wind is blowing the rain sideways. We’ll see.
And finally, some sad news. Brownie, the neighborhood dog I mentioned in a recent post, is no more. I’d been bringing him some scraps but then didn’t see him again for a few days. So I asked one of the maintenance guys if he’d seen Brownie around and he said he was dead and buried.
You were the sunshine, baby, whenever you smiled
But I call you Stormy today
All of a sudden that ole rain’s fallin’ down
And my world is cloudy and gray
You’ve gone away
Oh Stormy, oh Stormy
Bring back that sunny day
UPDATE: Power is out AGAIN. Been well over an hour now. That meant I had to take a cold shower. Damn, I hate that. The rain is really coming on strong now too. Not sure I’ll venture out for darts after all.
Blackouts from power outages, and a brown-out with the death of Brownie. Alas. I hope things stabilize soon. Guess it’s too expensive and time-consuming to run the power lines underground, eh? That’s probably why we have so many exposed wires here in the ROK. Continued good luck as you cultivate your BS dart league.
What about a generator? Assuming that pretty much every thing there is electric and no natural gas lines?
Though, a portable generator could do the job and run some key appliances during power outages.
Too bad about Brownie. With animals, people, etc., sometimes it is “there but for the grace of God, go I”
Kev, everything I’ve seen done here is always done half-assed. They’ve been working on a drainage ditch on the National highway through town for over a year now. There are still lots of gaps because the power company can’t be fucked with moving the power poles.
Brian, I had seriously considered a generator and lots of people have them (I can hear them in the neighborhood) but honestly the power outages have been infrequent and short enough that I’ve not bothered with it. No natural gas lines, there is a tank for my stove.
Brownie IS in a better place. McCrarey, you and me, we’ll be in a better place some day too. No one escapes the Grim Reaper. Hopefully that time is later than sooner. Peace Out!
A place that is better than a bar with 50 peso beers? I’ll believe it when I see it! Hopefully later than sooner…